Miraculous escape

Watch the video on your private racing TV channel, the Toolbar TV

I hate to even talk about racing accidents, but when both the horse and the jockey escape unhurt, I don't mind even watching it on film. Like this video, which has the power to convert a confirmed atheist into a believer in God and His miraculous ways of saving lives.

You must see it to believe it! The video clipping can easily bid for the "most miraculous escape" contest if there was one. 

Featuring on your toolbar TV today is this 17-second clipping of an accident on a US racetrack, and the miraculous escape of the jockey involved.

So go ahead and watch the video if you have already installed the toolbar. And if you have yet to intsal it, check out its wonderful features here or you may directly download it here.

Indian racing at your finger tips

I am extremely pleased to offer you an excellent toolbar, specially designed with the Indian race lover in mind. The toolbar is designed by my team and gives you instant (one-click) access to ANY Indian racing website or even any personal racing blog that you may be interested in. 

Important note: When you download this toolbar you may be shown a warning that says: This type of file can harm your computer. Are you sure you want to download Indian_Racing.exe? That’s a standard warning which, in this case, I urge you to ignore as it is not only backed by my personal guarantee (it has TRUSTe certificate, one of the most trusted like Verizon), but also has the technological backing of the net’s leading community gadgets provider, and their products are fearlessly enjoyed by 180,000 communities and their 38 million users! So just ignore that warning and get ready to take your surfing experience to a new level. 

You can have a good look here and then if you like what you see, go ahead and download it. Remember you can uninstall it ANYTIME if you don't like it. Even uninstalling takes just a few seconds. But I am sure its great features will be to your liking and convenience.

Just have a look at some of its great features:

1. The FREE Indian Racing Community Toolbar downloads in seconds, is ABSOLUTELY SAFE & SECURE, and gives you ONE-CLICK access to the ENTIRE Indian racing world on the web.
2. The toolbar has a built-in TV, your own private 24 x 7 racing channel, which gives you access to exciting videos from the racing world. More & more useful programs involving discussion, race videos, tips, etc. will be regularly featured on this channel.
3. It automatically displays the weather forecast at wherever YOU may be located. If you are in Lucknow, it will show your local weather; if you are in London, it will tell you about the climate there.
4. It gives you one-click access to all the racing clubs’ official websites—Mumbai/Pune, Bangalore/Mysore, Hyderabad, Kolkata & even Delhi race club.
5. It also gives you one-click access to all the privately run racing websites like Indiarace, Racing Pulse, Equine India, Sporting Mirror, BOL race book site, etc.
6. You also get one-click access to my blog, as well as all the other personal blogs on Indian racing which give tips/selections and discuss the day’s races.
7. It also has a built-in google search that gives you in mircoseconds any information you want from the web.
8. It has many other optional features (like E-mail Notifier & shortcut to useful components) that you can enable (if you want) by clicking the small arrow placed besides the jockey’s silks image in the extreme left corner. 

So go ahead and download it, and start enjoying your racing-related surfing. 

Wishing you a great surfing experience with my toolbar, 

Sincerely yours, 

Prakash Gosavi

Interview with Cooji Katrak

Awesome twosome: Champion trainer Cooji Katrak (left) receiving trophy from another champion, Dr Cyrus S Poonawalla, chairman, RWITC, whose Poonawalla stud farm emerged as leading breeders for the just concluded Mahalaxmi racing season (Pic: RS Gupta)

Like most racing folks, Cooji Katrak—some used to call him 'cagey' Katrak—was a mystery to me too. Until a couple of years ago, all I knew about him was hearsay--nothing first-hand. 

So when I went to meet him for this interview, I was severely shocked to fiind a very mild-mannered--almost shy and timid--man, who was ill at ease for stepping into the limelight as the new champion, and made no effort to hide the discomfort.

But once the questions started rolling in, he turned into an interviewer's delight. Here are excerpts from the interview:

When did you decide to become horse trainer? 

I know this is going to sound a bit strange, but I decided to become a horse trainer when I was a kid. I was studying in fifth standard at the Cathedral & John Connon school in Fort, Bombay, and I was so obsessed with horses, I used to rush back from school, quickly wash up and change before my uncle, who was a horse trainer, left for the stables in the evening. 

Oh, you already had a trainer in the family? 

Dara Pandole was my maternal uncle. He was a renowned trainer. In fact, horses and racing have been a family obsession. My other uncle, N E D Pandole, owned some fine horses which were trained by Rashid Byramji. I was myself an amateur rider and had won a race during the Gymkhana meeting. 

So you joined Dara Pandole as an assistant? 

Yes, but I put in just about a year as official assistant before taking up licence in 1977, because I had always been associated with horses and learning all the time from my uncle and his peers. 

Who were your first owners?

(smiles) When I began, I had only two owners and 6 horses. Mr Pallon Shroff, father of the twins—Dinshaw & Munchi—was my first owner; the other was Mr P B Mody. 

Your first winner...? 

My first winner was Mr Mody’s Mihir.  And I finished my first season with 3 winners. 

Two owners, six horses and three winners, and what’s the equation today? 

(laughs) Oh, now I have 20 owners & 80 horses—but of course that includes unraced babies too. And you know I had 35 winners this season. 

This season turned out to be just great for you… 

True. I started with a bang. I had a quadruple on the second day itself, and then never looked back. No doubt I worked very hard, but you know in this business you have to also be lucky for the hard work to pay off consistently. 

And you were crowned the champion trainer… 

I think championship just happened along the way—it was never my goal, and surely not my focus. But I am happy to have won the trophy, and I am happier I won it in a season during which my owners picked up more than Rs two crore in stakes money alone. We won five or six "million" races, two grade 1 races and a couple of grade 2 races too. God was kind to me, I couldn’t have asked for more. You know some events in life bring in a special kind of joy, like winning your first Indian Classic—winning championship is something akin to that. Coincidentally, I won my first Indian Classic, the 2000 Guineas, with Vesuvius owned by Dr Cyrus Poonawalla, and it was he who gave me the championship trophy the other day. 

What’s your training secret? 

Hard work, coupled with minute attention to every single individual horse. Every horse is a different riddle. You have to design different work program—even different feed. And yes, I take my babies very seriously. I believe in giving them a feel of the grass under their feet, not just work on sand. They mature better that way, I strongly believe.

Would you like to talk about the rough period in your profession when you faced suspension? You have never publicly talked about it, never explained. 

I believe explanation is pointless—because your friends don’t need it, and your enemies don’t believe it. I don’t want to talk about it even now, except stating a fact that I was framed. I got my licence back only after the court vindicated me. 

Would you recommend the trainer’s profession to anyone? 

Not if the person doesn’t love horses! You must be madly in love with horses—that’s the first condition. And you also must be willing to work hard, real hard. It’s a hard life and a tough career. It is another matter that if you really love them, it doesn’t feel like hard work—because then it’s labour of love. 

Exciting season ends

Jockey Daniel Grant (center), flanked by his girlfriend and Dr Cyrus Poonawalla, chairman, RWITC, while receiving the Champion Jockey trophy  [pic: rwitc.com]

The last time Cooji Katrak won the champion trainer's title he was in South Africa. Yesterday when he won it for the second time, he was on ‘top-of-the-world’." 

“Yes, it’s a special kind of joy, like a top-of-the-world feeling,” he said to MiD DAY, after receiving the trophy form club chairman Dr Cyrus Poonawalla, and added, "I am especially pleased because I won more than two crore rupees in stake money for my owners." 

Katrak, who scored a double on the concluding day, topped the trainers' tally with 35 wins, while erstwhile champion Pesi Shroff finished runner up with 31 winners. Jockey Daniel Grant, who had a hand in most of Katrak's victories this season, picked up the champion jockey title, and the race club, as a special gesture, had presented the trophy to him a day before as he had to fly to his home country to fulfil his riding engagements there. 

Apprentice rider Nikhil Parmar picked up two titles, that of the leading apprentice and also the one for the leading apprentice with allowance. He rode 9 winners which included a hat-trick on the April 5 card. The leading owner prize went to Dr Vijay Mallya, while the Poonawalla stud farms emerged as the leading stud farm. 

"It has been our best season ever," said Vivek Jain, chairman of stewards and head of marketing, RWITC, speaking to MiD DAY, "it was great racing all the way--record sponsorships, higher attendance and betting--and most important, much improved media coverage and visibility for the sport." 

He added, "I am happy we managed such a show despite a delayed start on account of the horses's health, and weather concerns about heat and humidity that couldn’t be wished away. There was a special flavor of energy to all Sundays that took the racing experience to a new level." 

Sunday (May 3) races

Once again, there is only ONE horse on the Sunday card that also figures in the FINOO list.

Devilitto (8-2)

a) Running at the same level (Class V. True, now runs among non-winners of this season, but even last time, all in the fray were non-winners this sesaon anyway)

b) Running over 200m extra (1400m from 1200)

c) Ridden by the same jockey (Imran Chisty)

Satisfies ALL conditions.

A WIN bet.

P.S.:

Horses struck off the FINOO list after last run: Up North (8-7)

And just failed making the FINOO list: Blade Runner (4-7)

Good luck.

 

Friday (May 1) races

The Giant (Imran Chisty up) being led in by trainer Faisal Abbas and owners [pic: rwitc archives]

Apparently, despite a detailed discussion about the FINOO (Follow-In-Next-Outing-Only) horses, there are some who still find the concept confusing, especially because of the qualifier rules. They will fiind the explanation here. 

While I must mention here that the rules (which I want written in stone to reduce the decision making stress) are being re-looked into by CP and Curious No End (both of whom made some valuable suggestions here as well as privately in mails), and since they seem to be far better than I am in applying the rules of logic, I have agreed to seriously consider their recommendations. 

However, they need a day of two to look at the old data (and see how well the results would have panned out under the new rules), until then I am going to use my stone tablets and stick to the inscpription on them as sacrosanct. (By the way, talking of stone tablets reminds me of a beautiful book, The Richest Man In Babylon, which drastically changed my perspective about money--alas too late!--and which I strongly recommend to everyone who wishes to invest, speculate or gamble, and mind you, it is a MUST READ for our young kids BEFORE they earn their first penny in life.)

Alas (I know some will say "thankfully"), there is only ONE horse on the Friday card that finds its name on the FINOO list.

The Giant (2-4)

a) Running at the same level (class V)

b) running over 200m longer trip (1800 from 1600m)

c) has the same jockey (Imran Chisty)

Satisfies ALL 3 conditions. 

A WIN bet.

P.S.: Curious No End has made a special request to publicly mention if any horses on the day's card have either been struck off the FINOO list last time (like Marine Zone who went on to win after being struck off) or have just missed making the list (like Forest Native), and therefore, are not under consideration by me. He feels some people may want to keep track of such horses. To honour his request, here I put them:

Struck off from the list after last run: 

Western Challenge (1-1) &

White Heart Lane (2-2) 

And just missed making the FINOO list:

Dancing Glory (4-5)

Good luck.

Looking back over the weekend

Horse owner Sunil Jhangiani (left) leading in Blue Danube (NG McCullagh up) along with brother Dilip & trainer Pesi Shroff, after winning the Bahrain Trophy on Saturday, April 18 at Mahalaxmi

Tip: For more information, please hold the mouse over words in 'dark blue' colour.

After reading the Saturday column, a friend called up to ask what was the point in tipping horses that were hot favourites. 

First, when I posted on Friday evening, I didn’t have any idea about the market odds. However, it is a fact that a major share of the FINOO list ("Follow-In-Next-Outing-Only") horses will generally be either first or second favourites. 

The reason is very basic. Most of them have figured in place in last outing, so they are likely to be among the fancied horses this time. Personally, you can impose an odds restriction on the price to qualify as a bet, like most followers of the FINOO list put even money as minimum price for any horse to qualify as a bet. However, I have my own doubts if that is the wise thing to do. The FINOO list approach is still in its infancy, and it will not be prudent to comment on this until some evidence stacks up either way.

Another so-called drawback of the FINOO approach is it calls for great patience and discipline. You skip more bets than you play. Some may even think it's boring. 

Yes, there will be too little betting action, but is that really such a bad thing as long as it enables you to earn a long term profit? Think about it.

And then this approach is basically for people who are seeking profits, not entertainment. God knows betting on horses is the most expensive form of 'buying' entertainment. Thousands of bankrupts will take the stand to testify this truth.

In fact, some very good handicappers are unable to beat this game for only one reason—they engage in too much of betting action for their own good. As everyone who has ever played the horses knows, one of surest ways to lose money in racing is to bet in every race. 

Now, coming to a more important question: Can we hope to show long term profit (something that has eluded even the best handicapping brains in this sport) with such horses? The answer to that question could be yes, IF & ONLY IF you have a reasonably high strike rate with them. That’s a BIG if, but FINOO list horses, I have been recently observing with interest, fulfill this most difficult condition with remarkable ease. 

So while a lower strike rate (35%) and higher average odds (5 to 2) on winners could be one possible way to try and get the required ROI (Return On Ivestment), a better, easier, time-saving and a less stressful way to accomplish the same objective might be betting on the horses on the “Follow-In-Next-Outing-Only” list, after subjecting them to the kind of decision making filter we used over the weekend. 

As we saw, we had six possible bets from the list—four on Saturday and two on Sunday. All bets were, on paper, equally strong to begin with, in the sense that if all of them had qualified on all three counts, we would have expected them to win without giving us any anxious moments. But the decision filter left in only two choices, and rejected the other four.

It is not a mere coincidence that the approved two won with a measure of comfort, while three of the rejected four ended up as runners up—two of them by a mere neck.